There comes a time in life where you feel satisfied & happier than ever in your gaming life, its a very different feeling inside you, you dont feel like touching any game at all ,such is the case with games like Grand Theft Auto IV, back in the year 2005 where i first played & completed GTA III ,Vice City & San Andreas all in a row , i instantly became a fan of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. it left a huge impact on my life . i ve never liked any more game franchises than the GTA & Halo franchise . these are the 2 franchises that have left a huge impact on both my gaming & personal life & after completing both GTA IV & Halo 3 . i have this huge satisfaction . Halo 3 & GTA IV were 2 of the most awaited games of all times . i had a ton of expectations from both of them , glad that both of these games lived upto my expecations .
Last monday i completed Grand Theft Auto IV .it took me some 33 hours to beat the campaign . i finished the story at 65% along with some side missions . feel free to read, i aint gonna post any spoliers here :P. with all the hype & the awesomeness of SAN ANDREAS ,my expecations with GTA IV was a hell lot more than any videogame. This time Rockstar went in a very different direction, focussing towards a much richer & deeper storyline & gameplay mechanics .the story mode this time felt realistic more than ever . at first it felt the same old gta that i ve played before , but later it started to turn into a very different direction . half way through the game i even stopped playing it for a while , & started to think what to do next . this time GTA s a lot different as you have to make choices around , so its upto you who lives or dies , in later parts of the game especially towards the end you have to make some real tough decissions that affect the storyline .
Combat has improved in a major way, the cover system works gr8 , its much like gears of war . not only that,the Auto Save feature & GPS takes out all of the frustration that were in previous gta games . loosing cops is a lot easier this time around if you are good at driving , there has been a lot of people complaining about how bad the driving is this time around , but i hardly ever had a tough time while driving , infact i felt driving a lot better this time .overall GTA IV is a lot easier than previous gta games , well that doesnt mean that you wont be beating all the missions in 1 go :P . there are still some missions that you ll be repeating to get it done , but personally i never had a hard time with any of the missions .
another great aspect of the game is maintaining friendships ,you ll often get calls from your buddies & girlfriends , you can even call them & hangout with them for some bowling , darts , pool ,you can hangout with them at strip clubs , restaurants , take your girlfriend to a date , get drunk , then drive her back home while drunked :lol:. maintaining friendships in GTA IV gives you some bonuses like such as being able to call a cab that will take you anywhere in the city for free, if you are good friends with Jacob , the Rasta/gun seller. you can give him a ring on your cell phone and he'll roll through with a trunk full of toys at discounted prices . My personal favourite charachter throughout the game was Brucie , the genetically jacked steroid monkey who loves cars, VIPs, staying alpha, and "putting beeche$ to the sword :P. If you and Brucie become close friends , he ll hook you up with a helicopter . through out the story , you ll meet numerous charachters , each depending upon the frienship level will unlock bonuses to you .
for Grand Theft Auto IV , rockstar created a new engine , The Rage engine , its a gr8 technical achievement fot the gta series to have some amazing graphics this time around , previous gta games were never that gr8 in the graphics department , san andreas pushed the ps2 s hardware to its limits , had some frame rate issues , but gta has never been a graphical beast , its all about gameplay & fun that matters most in gta games , luckily this time the graphics & gameplay are better than ever , not only that , the physics are just amazing , a very few glitches this time , a little pop up sometimes , but its barely there . The highlight in GTA IV is the city itself , its very lively , its based on new york but at the same time set in gta universe , times square looks & feels realistic than ever , there are tons of detail this time in gta , previous gta games looked gr8 on thier respective system but not that dam good,this time rockstar put a hell lot of detail , the environments are breathtaking . this time they focussed much towards the graphics & storyline . the storyline is very rich . its very well written , The games protagonist Niko Bellic is the best charachter that i ve played in the GTA universe , he s not the regular dude taking orders , doing this & that . what ever Niko does is for a reason , that s to survive in libery city . Liberty City map size aint that large , may be 1/4 of san andreas . but its highly detailed & nicely done . the story missions are great overall . 1 of my favourites is "Three Leaf Cover " . i enjoyed the second half of the game more than the first half . the last 7,8 missions were just superb , by the time i ended GTA IV , i felt there should ve been more of it , the missions could have had more variety . but then i though the other way , the game never felt like boring or something like its loosing its pace . so overall it was very satisfying in the end .
Grand Theft Auto IV is definately a gr8 addition to the GTA franchise but its not perfect , despite a strong charachter , rich storyline & graphics . I dont know but for some reason , i loved San Andreas more than GTA IV , i mean i never got that excitement & level of fun like i had when i played san andreas , i enjoyed the san andreas opening sequence much than GTA IV , the way the story progressed, the twists & turns , the huge giant size map , the 3 different cities along with area 51 , freeways , country side , the awesome charachters from the truth , mad dog , og loc , to woozie , the awesome rides with your homies ryder , big smoke , the awesome air planes , jets , the all time gr8 missions by Mike Torreno , the casino robbing mission , the jetpack area 51 MISSIONS & a perfect ending .
dont get me wrong guys , i aint saying that san andreas was a better game than GTA IV or vice versa . all i mean is that this time the storyline was solid , but lacked that excitement that i had with san andreas, in san andreas all 3 cities looked & felt entirely different , but here in liberty city , after unlocking all 3 cities , it all feels the same , i can understand what rockstar was aiming for with GTA IV & for that i dont have any complaints , but right after beating the game , the free roam stuff started getting old real fast , but hey there is the online multiplayer this time around :), the only sad thing is no co-op like san andeas had on the ps2 . i had 1 hell of a time with sandreas with my buddies in co-op . this time around its online co-op , so i dont have too manny issues with GTA IV , only if they could have made the map large & some more side missions like San Andreas had would have doubled the fun i am having at the moment . its just that my expectations where a lot & hopefully the next gta will have a bigger area , plus there is the Episodic DLC coming for 360 :wink:.
i ve been a huge GTA fan ever since beating san andreas , i was like , dam.... this game has everything i could ever imagine in a video game . but with GTA IV , its something different , the storyline felt very deep this time , the charachters were superb . it s still Grand Theft Auto , but a very matured & darker gta .the storyline deserves an Oscar for it is truly a Masterpiece :). its not that groundbreaking like GTA III did from 2d to 3d , but definately the best game that i played on this generation of consoles . a must play for everyone that owns an xbox 360 or ps3 :wink:.
I Finally got both versions of the game , both special editions :oops:, definately worth getting if you happen to be a GTA Fanboy :P. with that said , i hope you liked my very first blog review , i ve done this before manny times , but never put a score in the end . so here it is my final verdict on GTA IV .
Grand Theft Auto IV is 1 great addition to the GTA franchise , it lives up to its name & delivers 1 deep & rich storyline , with believable charachters in a believable world with amazing Graphics , Soundtrack & a variety of online multiplayer modes that grows on you :wink:.
10/10 .
Leave your thoughts on GTA IV , i would like to hear from all of my friends that ve played or plan on playing GTA IV in near future :wink:. thanx for your time , i hope you all enjoyed it :wink:.
[video=6189948]